St. Louis Blues (1939) User Reviews

St. Louis Blues was a nice showcase for the singing of Dorothy Lamour and Maxine Sullivan

[tavm · 7/10 · 15 February 2019]

This was one of only two movies that showcased African-American singer Maxine Sullivan. The other was Going Places which I reviewed a few days ago. She has more songs to sing here like this movie's title song but it puts her in the kind of costumes her race was confined to during this period of stereotyping. At least one of those songs she warbled was a Scottish tune! The actual star is Dorothy Lamour in which her character says she's tired of all those sarong roles which was what she was known for during this period. So here, she's trying to run from Broadway and goes on a showboat known for putting on shows all over the country like in Baton Rouge (the movie doesn't actually show the city, only words printed on screen showing which ones the boat enters). By the way, Ms. Lamour was a native of New Orleans which is only a couple of hours from BR, a city I currently live in. Don't really feel like recounting the whole plot, only that I really liked St. Louis Blues especially Ms. Lamour and Ms. Sullivan's warbling.

Will there or will there not be a sarong?

[AAdaSC · 5/10 · 21 January 2024]

The film has an interesting and original setting, ie, on a river-boat in the 1800s/early 1900s and has two very good female singers in Dorothy Lamour and Maxine Sullivan. We also get an amusing Jessie Ralph (Tibbie) as the cigar-smoking matriarch of the boat.

Unfortunately, the musical numbers are a bit of a let-down although sung very well. Lamour gets slow numbers to perform which is a total waste. We needed her voice to carry out some swinging numbers. Sullivan gets some blues numbers to sing which she is obviously suited to and swings things a little in a cool version of that Scottish standard "You'll take the High Road and I'll take the Low Road". The story is ok but the boat's captain Lloyd Nolan (Dave) isn't a very pleasant character to identify with for a leading man. He is such a Humphrey Bogart character and I suspect Bogie nicked Nolan's style after watching this film.

For the story, Lamour runs away from her success as a sarong-wearing singer and her manager Jerome Cowan (DeBrett) to perform on a river boat but she is under contract and he tracks her down. Cliff Nazarro (Shorty) is along for the ride to do his double-talking thing but the film never really sets alight. It's ok. Do you think Lamour ends up singing in a sarong? Take a guess.

One of the more memorable scenes sees Ralph giving Lamour a rub-down. Just check out the look of determined glee on Ralph's face as she carries out her massage. Creepy. What was all that about! I think we can all guess. I assume she went to have a smoke on one of her cigars after that interaction.

No blues about the music or performances.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 20 November 2018]

This is somewhat a reverse "Show Boat" where a Broadway star ends up performing on a tug going up and down the Mississippi River, having gotten tired of being stereotyped on the Great White Way. The issue is that she has a contract with Broadway producers who refuse to allow her to perform anybody else, but there's a way around her contract, and she finds it. That Broadway star is the sultry Dorothy Lamour in one of her non-sarong wearing parts (although her character wears them on stage) , and while she may not be Merman or Martin, she's certainly photographable and knows how to put over a song. "Captain Andy" is a tie wearing older woman, played with zest by the great Jessie Ralph, and she walks off with the show even though Lamour and Lloyd Nolan (as Ralph's nephew) are the lead. Ralph, who got to insult William Powell in "After the Thin Man" ("Hello, Nicol-ass!") and comfort Jeanette MacDonald in "San Francisco" (which should have gotten the old dear an Oscar nomination), looks very mannish and even gets to give the seductive Lamour a rubdown, making me wonder what the writers were trying to get subtly away with in regards to her character. But as a combination of Captain Andy and Tugboat Annie, Ralph delivers each line as if it were Ribeye steak, and no side order is necessary.

Another wonderful discovery here is jazz vocalist Maxine Sullivan who is obviously a servant on the show boat, performing the title song seductively as well as "Ochi Chonya " and "Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond". It's too bad that she didn't really have a character to play as she really could have been the Lena Horne of this film, hardly a stereotype, even if her three numbers would be considered easy to cut out in theaters where black performers, even specialties, were frowned upon unless it was a white performer in blackface or a downright stereotype. Lamour gets to sing a few songs by Frank Loesser and Burton Lane, and is surrounded by an opulent setting. Lloyd Nolan, who had a lot of experience in leading roles playing Bogart like tough heroes, seems a strange choice for her leading man, but is quite acceptable. Tito Guizar also gets a couple of nice specialties, but like Sullivan, doesn't really have a character to play other than to attempt to romance Lamour. Jerome Cowan, William Frawley (as one of Lamour's producers who once romanced Ralph) and Mary Parker fill out the supporting cast, but it will be sultry Lamour, funny Ralph and jazzy Sullivan whom you will remember.

Dorothy Lamour as the Runaway Heroine

[HarlowMGM · 8/10 · 14 January 2006]

This is an amusing but lightweight comedy/musical vehicle for Dorothy Lamour in the early years of her stardom. Dottie plays a Broadway star who is forever cast in South Seas melodramas (hmmm) who decides to run away and live in seclusion in a small river town. Familiar plot of course but the movie has a major director, Raoul Walsh, a lovely star and a good supporting cast although noted character actor Lloyd Nolan is not charismatic enough to be Lamour's leading man. The movie includes several good songs including "I Go For That", one of Lamour's biggest hits. The legendary title song (a turn of the century hit) is regrettably on used as background music. This movie was retitled "Best of the Blues" for television to avoid confusion with the 1958 movie "St. Louis Blues".

Light-Hearted Dottie Lamour Musical

[chrisludlam · 9/10 · 10 July 2018]

One of my favourite Dorothy Lamour movies,in which an ideally cast Dottie rebels against the Broadway "Sarong Girl" persona inflicted upon her by her Producer/Manager Jerome Cowan,and flees the City! She winds up on a Showboat owned and captained by dependable Lloyd Nolan,and,despite some initial hitches,they become Romantically involved and she becomes his star attraction. Meanwhile,her Manager has been busy trying to locate her,and has had Legal injunctions issued for breach of contract in order to stop her performing. Can his last-ditch attempts to stop the Show be thwarted ?? Dottie sings several good songs,including "Blue Nightfall" and "I Go For That". Contrary to the comment by the previous reviewer,the Title song is featured: Competently sung by Maxine Sullivan(And Quayside Chorus),who also chips in with a couple of Traditional songs too. The plot also features an amusing additional romance between a pursuing Tito Guizar and a receptive pretty Mary Parker. Jessie Ralph is good as the Riverboat Matriach who is both feisty and kind-hearted: She even succeeds in enrolling an old flame and rival Riverboat Showman(William Frawley) in the efforts to keep Dottie and the show on the River!! Well directed by Raoul Walsh,this entertaining movie should be more well-known.